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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27161786">xxiii. what's a guy gotta do to get some sleep around here?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempestaurora/pseuds/tempestaurora'>tempestaurora</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the kids aren't alright [whumptober 2020] [23]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Exhaustion, Gen, Teen for a Single Fuck, Whump, Whumptober</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:16:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,362</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27161786</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempestaurora/pseuds/tempestaurora</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Luther was seventeen and alone.</p>
<p>His siblings were all gone, or missing, or dead.</p>
<p>He pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luther Hargreeves &amp; The Hargreeves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the kids aren't alright [whumptober 2020] [23]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930186</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>xxiii. what's a guy gotta do to get some sleep around here?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt: Exhaustion</p>
<p>imashadowwalker on tumblr prompted: The mission won't stop coming. The other aren't there anymore. Luther is tired, but there's not time for sleep.</p>
<p>i actually love luther??????? this is one of my favourite fics of the month because it was just so easy to write like 2 months ago when i wrote it. it hurts a lot to think about what luther's gone through and honestly i'd be happy to write fics with him only being happy for the rest of time. this isn't one of those fics though lmao</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luther was seventeen and alone.</p>
<p>His siblings were all gone, or missing, or dead.</p>
<p>He pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was eighteen and alone.</p>
<p>He blew out the candles on the cake Mom baked him, and she sang happy birthday while he watched the wax melt. She asked, “Where’s your siblings, Luther? It’s the big one-eight.”</p>
<p>And Luther replied, “I don’t know, Mom,” but he did know actually, because Five was missing for half a decade and Six was dead in the courtyard; Allison had just hit the news with her big new movie and Diego had just passed the police academy entrance exam; Klaus was probably in a dumpster somewhere and Vanya had been accepted to some college to study music, and Luther—</p>
<p>Luther was eighteen and alone.</p>
<p>He ate half a slice of cake before he pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was nineteen and alone.</p>
<p>He watched the six episode arc on <em>Grey’s Anatomy </em>that Allison had scored for herself. He didn’t understand the plot but she was talented and wonderful and not here.</p>
<p>He trained daily, and in the evenings often sat alone in a booth at Griddy’s, just wishing someone he knew might pass through. They never did, of course, though sometimes Luther swore he saw Klaus staggering past, or Diego in the yellow light of his car, drinking coffee and laughing with a woman.</p>
<p>He stared longingly at the old portraits on the walls, at Five’s frozen face, at Ben’s statue, and wished for the years to twist backwards, spiralling, until they were all young and happy and together again.</p>
<p>There was no point being Number One if there were no other numbers at all.</p>
<p>He pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty and alone.</p>
<p>He thought about letting Klaus stay when he stumbled into the mansion, but it was only a few minutes before his brother was stealing and vomiting on the foyer tiles and Luther kicked him back out again. <em>It’s for his own good, </em>Luther thought, and then wondered if that was the truth, because now Klaus was vanishing down the street and it had been three years since the last time Luther had properly spoken to him.</p>
<p>He was about to follow but stopped when his father called from the top of the stairs. Then he pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-one and alone.</p>
<p>He walked the street by himself, never straying too far from the mansion, unknowing of what kind of danger could be out there. He saw Diego’s car outside Griddy’s, but this time he was alone and drinking coffee in the dark, and the next time he saw him it was outside an apartment building where he argued a little too loudly with the beautiful woman who’d once laughed with him over doughnuts.</p>
<p>He took the bus and crept into the back of the theatre to watch Vanya’s showcase at the end of her degree. She’d graduated in three years and played violin in the orchestra, her suit black and eyes straight forward, looking older and yet somehow smaller than he’d ever seen her before. The music was beautiful, though he knew nothing about music that didn’t play on his record player in his bedroom.</p>
<p>He went to the movie theatre and sat alone and watched Allison on screen, falling in love with some handsome, suave Hollywood-type as they saved the world from the invading aliens. When they kissed in the climax of the movie, their bodies silhouetted by the sun, Luther dropped his gaze to his popcorn.</p>
<p>He looked for Klaus on the way home and didn’t spot him once.</p>
<p>He was barely through the front door when he was pulling on the black jumpsuit as the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-two and alone.</p>
<p>He blew out his birthday candles. Mom asked where his siblings were. He pulled on the black jumpsuit as the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-three and alone.</p>
<p>He watched Allison’s movies and read the slithers of news about a vigilante in the night and pulled on the black jumpsuit as the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-four and alone.</p>
<p>He did as he was told and fought the battles needed fighting. He ate his meals at the same time everyday and made model planes in his bedroom and listened to the same vinyl albums on repeat. He pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-five and alone.</p>
<p>He was so fucking tired.</p>
<p>He got up and trained. He slept at night. He got up and trained. He slept at night.</p>
<p>He watched Klaus stagger past the mansion and not even look up at the door. He stared from his booth out at Diego’s empty car in the Griddy’s parking lot and said nothing when Diego passed right by his table to make his order. He bought a CD of Vanya’s orchestra and listened to it in the dark. He watched Allison’s movies and TV shows and pretended it didn’t hurt to see her so happy.</p>
<p>To see them all alone, too.</p>
<p>He pulled on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded and went into battle by himself.</p>
<p>And this time, he didn’t come back alive.</p>
<p>This time, he needed someone to watch his back.</p>
<p>This time, he was alone, and tired, and wondered what it might be like if he bought his own car and his own apartment and started a new job all by himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-five and alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-five and alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-five and there was something severely wrong with his body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He did not pull on the black jumpsuit when the alarm sounded to go into battle by himself. Reginald turned the alarm off. Mom made him dinner. Pogo did not look him in the eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-five and alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He could no longer fit in the black jumpsuit. The alarm was disconnected. No one had use for him in battle anymore.</p>
<p>No one had use for him at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-six and alone.</p>
<p>The moon was endlessly cold.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-seven and alone.</p>
<p>He missed Earth and his records and the model planes in his room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-eight and alone.</p>
<p>He watched Allison’s movies and read Vanya’s book. She described him as loyal to a fault. She described him as naïve. She described him as too big for the bones of the house but never realising it.</p>
<p>He heard nothing of Diego or Klaus.</p>
<p>On his birthday, he had no candles to blow out.</p>
<p>On the anniversary of Five’s disappearance, he wondered if he should’ve followed Five out of the dining room and gone with him, wherever he ended up.</p>
<p>On the anniversary of Ben’s death, he knew he should’ve done better.</p>
<p>Luther was twenty-eight and alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was twenty-nine and alone.</p>
<p>He ate his meals and took the samples and sent the data back to Earth. He followed his routine, named his single plant, sat on the moon rock and watched his home planet slowly spin.</p>
<p>Luther was twenty-nine and alone when his father died, and Five returned, and the apocalypse came upon them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And then—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then he wasn’t so alone anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was thirty and he blew out his birthday candles with his siblings, all leaning over the same cake at the centre of the dining table. Mom smiled and cut the cake. Luther ate two slices and stole frosting from Five’s.</p>
<p>They talked and bickered and laughed and danced, and then, at night, he slept.</p>
<p>He slept long and deep and relaxed.</p>
<p>There was no black jumpsuit and no alarm to sound, but if there was a battle, he knew he would go into it with his family by his side.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luther was thirty and he was not alone.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ayeeee thanks for reading! pretty please talk to me in the comments!</p>
<p>i'm currently writing tomorrow's fic but the whole outsourcing ideas thing is working for me so, if you have any ideas (whumpy or fluffy) for the 25th, please let me know, i'll gift you the fic yada yada yada i need help thanks:</p>
<p>theme/title: "i think i'll just collapse right here, thanks"<br/>prompts: "disorientation, blurred vision, ringing ears"</p></blockquote></div></div>
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